§ 53. Mr. Liptonasked the Minister of Labour how many persons at the last count were registered as unemployed at the Brixton Employment Exchange; and what the corresponding figure was last year.
§ Mr. WhitelawFour thousand and forty-four on 11th March, 1963, and 2,821 on 12th March, 1962.
§ Mr. LiptonWhilst it is difficult to get the Parliamentary Secretary to agree to anything, will he at least agree that this represents a substantial increase in unemployment which is, no doubt, shared by quite a number of other exchanges in the London area where there are more than 4,000 registered unemployed? Will he at least see that efforts are made to make people realise that London is almost as much a depressed area as other parts of the country and do something to stop the population drifting towards London?
§ Mr. WhitelawI think the hon. Member knows that I am always prepared to agree with any statement which is accurate. At the same time, the figures would not support the hon. Member's contention, because in March unemployment in the Greater London area was 1.7 per cent.
§ Mr. D. SmithContrary to what the hon. Member for Brixton (Mr. Lipton) has said, would my hon. Friend agree that the employment position generally in the London area has been well maintained over this last difficult period? Furthermore, cannot we now look forward to a further substantial reduction in the overall unemployment situation when the figures are announced later this month?
§ Mr. WhitelawI should never like to anticipate what the position might be when figures are announced in the future, but I would certainly be prepared to agree with much of what my hon. Friend has said.